Coatesville school district denies Daily Local copy of internal probe (Documents)

CALN – The Daily Local News was denied a copy of the internal investigation performed by the Coatesville Area School District’s special legal counsel, Conrad O’Brien.

An information request for the document was filed on June 3. Conrad O’Brien responded Wednesday with a letter denying the request.

Conrad O’Brien, a Philadelphia-based law firm, was hired in October to represent the school district in the Chester County District Attorney’s ongoing criminal investigation. The law firm was also tasked to perform an internal investigation into the possibility of obstruction by school board members, solicitor James Ellison and Rhoads & Sinon in the DA’s criminal investigation.

After nine months of investigating, the report is nearing completion. However, Conrad O’Brien submitted the rejection letter on behalf of the school district.

School board president Neil Campbell told the Daily Local News in June that the report was ready to be turned over to the district attorney, but said there were items left in the report that needed to be completed.

He also told the Daily Local News the board was discussing matters in the report that might pertain to attorney-client privilege preventing the board from making a final decision on how the report will be presented to the DA.

“I don’t know where my board stands right now,” he said in June, adding it was too soon to tell if the report would make its way into the hands of the public.

It’s still unclear if the board plans to vote on the report’s release. Before the board considers publicizing the document, it has to make its way to the district attorney’s office for redaction – some content in the report may thwart the criminal investigation.

There are still a few steps the school board must take before the report can even be considered for release, including taking a vote to make it public.

The law firm has charged the school district $352,093, at $250 per hour, according to financial documents from January to May.

Campbell could not be reached for additional comment Thursday.

Conrad O’Brien attorneys were unable to be reached for comment on the status of the report Thursday.

A meeting is tentatively scheduled for July 29 at 7 p.m. in the high school’s 9/10 Center auditorium. If the board doesn’t meet in July, the next meeting falls on Aug. 26 at the same time and location.